Ariake
by Nonexistent Future
Summary: The dawn's moon. Zuko reminisces about the past few years. [AU. Complete.]


Hi! I know I should be working on chapter two of** A Forgotten Fairytale**, but I was whacked in the back of the head by my muse and could not let this story go. I hope you all like it as it will be a one shot!

XxXxXxX

We've never been apart  
The day has come  
I'm feeling that your sun  
Shines away from me

Tease me  
Holding my hands you smile again  
I couldn't see you away from me  
I do realize it now

Living in me  
You are living in me

You are living in me

I feel you by my side  
Your living soul wants to run away with me  
Inside of me

And now  
Will something happen to me?  
How did I lose my guide?  
You left me all alone

But now it is too late  
I know it is natural but now  
What can I do without your presence here?  
A never-ending pain

Living in me

You are living in me

I feel you by my side  
Your living soul wants to run away with me  
Inside of me

I feel you by my side  
And I'm sure that I can't forget you  
You are inside of me

You are inside of me

-_Distant Sun _

-- **Lacuna Coil **

XxXxX

They lived in a different time, a different place from what was once known, what once repressed many and left so many more dead. The Great War was nearly forgotten now, having ended nearly a century ago by the last Avatar who gave up his life to ensure the termination of Sozen's comet and much of the Fire Nation army. Great grandparents could relate the tales of their youth to children huddled at their feet after meals and they did. But that is not where our story takes place, by the snapping hearth fires or in a peaceful village. No.

The radiance of the sunrise was just beginning to paint the night sky in shades of titian, vermilion, rose, and ocher. The full moon still shone in the sky, hanging in the sky with her lovely companion the sun. Two figures stood upon the beach, water lapped at a woman's feet as her partner walked nearer the shore. She smiled at him, her blue eyes alight with an emotion that melted his heart and set his blood ablaze. She was saying something he couldn't hear over the roar of the ocean. Her soft hand held his, entwining her russet fingers within his porcelain ones. Jolts of passion erupted from his palm and rushed throughout his body. Breathing quickened for this warrior of flame as a heat greater than white fire torched his nerves.

Ariake, dawn when the moon was still visible. He would remember this morn, always. Her hair was in rumpled tangles, looking as if she had only halfheartedly tied it behind her head, as he was very well sure his own was, her skin glowed ephemerally as she was outlined by the morning sun, and her lips were still swollen. How he loved this woman, this water bending goddess. Half the time he was with her he thought that she was not really meant for him, that this was a ploy of the gods and she would be whisked away at a moments notice for his indiscretions in life. Katara. Her name rolled on his tongue perfectly and he did not realize he said it aloud until she looked quizzically at him.

"Zuko?" He watched her mouth word the syllables of his name with satisfaction, on a whim he kissed those beautifully sculpted lips, his tongue swept into her moist cavern as she complied to him, pliant as the water she controlled. His golden eyes widened the slightest fraction as she responded to his touch, both of them were highly sensitive to physical contact, even hours after the consummation of their marriage. Zuko felt himself grow with need to fulfill his promise of devotion to his woman, his Katara, and he knew the desire coursed through her as well when her delicate fingers worked the leather thong in his inky mane, freeing it from its confinement.

Their clothes were strewn along the strip of sand, far from the reach of the surf as they displayed their love beneath the eyes of the moon and sun, the crux that heightened their strength over their respective elements. Cries of eroticism filled the dawn accompanying the call of gulls and other sea birds.

XxXxX

Zuko awoke with tears streaming down the sides of his face and collection in his mass of jet-black hair. He had dreamt of her again, the only woman he could ever love. The gods did take her from him, even though giving him years to worship and be worshiped in return. He rolled in his lonely bed pallet, curling into himself, weak as no other could be. No one would ever have thought a powerful fire bender could be brought down by a simple water peasant.

He was trained as a high ranking soldier within the Fire Nation army when he found her while on deployment in the Northern Water Tribe and had been stricken by her beauty, one could call it love at first sight. It seemed that the ardor was returned and months after living within the land of ice and water they felt that it was now time to try and make a life for themselves. Zuko bought his way out of the military and stole Katara away to the Earth Kingdom where they had married and lived for four years while they carved a well paying niche where training Earth boys in the ways of Fire Nation fighting techniques was a skill in high demand. Katara became the local healer for the city in which they called home, mending injuries with water and hearts with words.

If it was at all possible he fell deeper into his love with her as time passed and soon they were to make their family complete with the addition of a child borne of their affections. The nine months of Katara's pregnancy were but a fading memory, as all human recollections fade and are embellished or distorted with time. Years had passed since the dark day that would forever haunt his sleep had occurred; a warm spring afternoon in the Earth Kingdom promised the beginning of a new life as Katara wailed in the distress of her contractions. Frantic and panicking, the young father-to-be rushed to the midwife for his pain stricken bride, leaving said woman in an uncomfortable situation alone to endure. She cursed him as the wracking convulsions shook the slight water bender.

Zuko did his best to console her until the actual birthing of his--their child was to take place, for that is woman's work and no place for a man. A chill ran down his spine as he lay, wallowing in despair of remembrance of the fleeting past. Her labor lasted the whole night and all those dreadful hours he paced, only stopping to carry out orders from the crone. Then daylight broke through, making the earth's satellite seem transparent in the pale morning sky. Hours he had bore the nervous wait to hear the first cries of his offspring, only to be cast in a chasm of hopelessness when news came from the matron, who was holding a bundle of reddened sheets, that it was a still birth.

The crushing blow left Zuko momentarily dazed but he regained some composure when the midwife reassured him that Katara survived. Now knowing what the parcel the woman had carried was, the fire bender entered the room of his weeping princess.

"Katara?" He had questioned with reserve as he kneeled beside her and placed a cautionary hand on her shoulder. He saw that the weight of his palm had disturbed her more than his voice.

"D-don't look at m-me," She cried, burying her face in her hands, salty liquid knows as tears passed through her fingers and dripped on the white of her blanket. There were no bloodstains on the cloth, leaving Zuko to wonder what exactly his wife had gone through.

"Katara," He repeated as he squeezed her shoulder, letting her know that he was not disgusted as he knew she thought. Pulling her hands away from her perfect face and bringing her eyes to meet his, Zuko saw the ache swirling in her icy blue depths. She collapsed against his body, sobbing for the loss of the child he never met.

In the time to come he supported his wife best as a hardened warrior could, yet the comforting efforts came with ease for him as Zuko felt as if he had spent more years by her side than alone in the military. Katara grew weak in her mourning, still weeks yet after the cremation of his son. Zuko wept freely when alone with Katara on the beach to scatter the asked toward the awaiting ocean, saline stung his golden eyes, but it helped her heal.

He was on his back, staring at the lightening ceiling high over head...waiting for the full rise of the sun and the broiling heat of fire within his soul. He knew where she was at now, even after six years after the death of their first born, because that is what today is, the anniversary of the death of a part of their spirits; Katara would be at the shore, strolling along the sandy path as her tears became one with the sea. Zuko always gave Katara this time alone to be one with her thoughts and element, and so he could rouse their daughter and send her off to the village with some errand of no consequence.

The fire bender heard the door to their room slide open and he sat up, eyes narrowing on the feminine silhouette that filled the passage. "Katara?" He yawned as light blinded him for a precious second. She said nothing as she lay on their pallet, he had never been able to get her to comprehend that the loss of their child was not her fault. Lying back down he wrapped a strong arm about her and pulled his fragile lover close. "You're finished?" He asked softly, not wanting to break the calm. Feeling her nod; against his chest, Zuko began to loosen the plaits of her braid. When the wavy tresses were free they wove with his own, tangling in a mass of sable and ebony. He rubbed sleepy circles into her back, soothing the hurts and tension in her surprisingly hard muscles with familiarity. When the fire man was sure his beloved was asleep and her breathing deep and even, he returned to his musings. Morning light became stronger, the sun told him the day had fully begun and Katara's tenacity in bed last night confirmed the appearance of the full moon.

Ariake, the dawn in which the moon is still visible, he would never forget, for no matter what transpires memories live on.

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This piece was sad to write, but the song above, by my favorite band, brought among so much inspiration that I finished the ficlet in less than twelve hours. I know it is short but I do not want to draw away from the raw emotion with empty words. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I cried writing it. Drop a review, I live for reviews!


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